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The Influence of Foreign Correspondents in Political Transitions

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The Influence of Foreign Correspondents in Political Transitions The influence of the international press and foreign correspondents in transitional democracies: the role of the Anglo-American journalists during post-Francoist Spain (1975-1978). Abstract The intersection between journalism and political transitions in contemporary history is a research field which has began to flourish in recent years. From the “Carnation Revolution” in Portugal in 1974 through to post-apartheid South Africa in the early Nineties and up to the so-called “social media revolutions” of the Arab Spring of 2011, both historical and comparative political studies have considered the international press to play an integral role in these processes of democratic change. In this context of regime change, the Spanish transition to democracy (1975-1978) is often portrayed as the most exemplary case study. This article analyses the role played by the foreign correspondents and special envoys of the British and American broadsheets and wire services sent to cover events in Spain at the most tumultuous time in its recent history as well as the contribution made by the Anglo-American press through its editorial stance on key issues and its commitment to the story both in terms of journalistic output and human resources. The article suggests that the role of the international press not only offers a useful connecting route to those charged with making foreign policy decisions and monitoring the state of public opinion in their respective capitals –in this case London and Washington- but can also make an indirect contribution to the sway of political events at a domestic level. Key words Transition, democracy, Spain, UK, USA, press, agencies, foreign correspondents. Introduction: The foreign press and political transitions as a growing research field The subject matter of this present article, namely the role played by the foreign press during the Spanish transitional process, can be framed within a growing body of international research regarding the conquest of political liberty and the role of the media in the consolidation of democratic systems and allows us to certify the significant influence their coverage can exercise on public opinion and, ultimately, on the evolution and public perception of events themselves. While it is true, as Livingston and Asmolov point out, that the main role of foreign affairs journalists is “to provide essential news on global developments” (2010: 746), it is no less true that the presence of reporters ion the ground contributes towards the shaping of public opinion concerning the event in question (Allen and Maxwell, 2010: 634-649) and on the wider public opinion of their respective countries (Salwen and Matera, 1989; McNelly and Izcaray, 1992; Wanta Golan and Lee, 2004). In this context, this article pays tribute to seminal texts regarding the external stimulation of democracy and the international context of regime transition (Schmitter, 1986; Pridham, 1991; McGrew, 1997), as well as comparative studies of transitions among new democracies in Latin America, South Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe (Filgueira and Nohlen 1994; Anderson, 1999; Jones, 2001; Gross, 2004). Voltmer’s work (2006, 2012) on media, conflict and democratisation and particularly on how the media can facilitate, and sometimes inhibit, the rooting of democratic practices in complex transitional democracies and counterbalance political interference in emerging democracies, has also been considered a wider referent for this present study. The historical context to the press coverage of the Spanish Transition (1975-1978) While it is true that steps are being taken to redress the balance as shown by both the publication of testimonies by former foreign correspondents (Haubrich 2009; Chislett 2011) and recent contributions regarding the influence on foreign policy of the European and US press (Martin Garcia and Ortiz, 2010; Powell, 2011), until very recently the relevance of the international media coverage of post-Francoist Spain has been overshadowed by studies surrounding the foreign press implication in and coverage of the Civil War (1936-39) four decades earlier. During the war, the Anglo-American correspondents were the authors of momentous news stories regarding key aspects of the war such as the Francoist massacre in Badajoz in August 1936 or the destruction of Guernica by German air forces in April 1937 (Southwork, 1977, Knightley, 2001; Deacon, 2008a & 2008b; Preston, 2008). The end of the war and the consequent consolidation of the Francoist dictatorship, led to Spain’s disappearance from the international press radar with the sole exception of the work carried out in the wire service newsrooms.1 During the Second World War, the interest shown by the Anglo-American press in Spanish affairs was limited to observing the movements of their respective governments in their attempts to assure that Franco would not aid Hitler in the Mediterranean given Spain’s favourable position towards Germany despite its official declaration of neutrality (Wigg, 2005; Burns, 2009). Throughout the Fifties and Sixties, the Anglo-American broadsheets press counted on the work of its stringers in Madrid whose workload only began to increase after the designation of Prince Juan Carlos as Franco’s successor in July 1969 and the assassination by ETA of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, the ultraconservative prime minister and the young King’s future mentor, in December 1973. The summer of 1974 brings Spain to the forefront of the international pages for the first sustained period of time since the Civil War when Franco falls ill and Prince Juan Carlos is forced to temporarily substitute him as head of State. Special envoys flock to Madrid to cover the story expectant for a possible change of regime which does not occur until October 1975 when a second wave of reporters arrive to cover Franco’s second and definitive illness which culminated in his death on the 20th of November. No less than 419 correspondents and special envoys were accredited at the Spanish Ministry of Information for the funeral and approximately 150 international reporters remain in Madrid to begin the coverage of the Transition. 1 This process is coherent with recent studies which have demonstrated that throughout and following the Cold War, the coverage of international affairs by the media (particularly the US press) fell significantly (Aalberg et al., 2013: 387). Aims and methodology In order to calibrate the role and influence of foreign correspondents in political transitions, the authors of this present article opted to analyse the output of the Anglo- American reporters during what is widely accepted as the exemplary “role model” case of contemporary political transitions: the three years comprising the death of Franco in November 1975 through to the referendum on the Spanish Constitution in December 1978. The volume of published material, the dedication of human resources, the characteristics of the coverage itself, the professional profile of the reporters charged with covering the story and the pressures under which they worked when explaining the process of political change in Spain all came under the scope of the study. In order to verify these objectives, the authors followed a methodology similar to that set out by Wimmer and Dominick (2000) which combines quantitative techniques (content analysis after a hemerographic and detailed document study) and a qualitative approach through structured in-depth personal interviews with former correspondents.2 Two kinds of documentation were used for building the sample for the content analysis: the official (and classified) documents held at the Spanish General Archives in Alcalà de Henares, just outside Madrid; and the detailed examination of the contemporary Anglo-American newspapers namely The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Financial Times, The New York Times and Washington Post all chosen as quality and politically influential dailies according to the classic global elite press classification made by Merrill (1968). In general terms, the sample covers the 1080-day period from the 20th November 1975 until the approval of the Spanish Constitution on the 6th December 1978. More specifically, and based on a multistage sample, five key moments in the process of Spanish political regime change were chosen: a) King Juan Carlos’ swearing of the oath and the confirmation of Carlos Arias as Prime Minister (November 1975); b) the appointment of Adolfo Suarez as Prime Minister and the approval of political reforms (July-December, 1976); c) the legalization of the Spanish Communist Party as the main 2 Edward Mortimer and Richard Wigg of The Times, interviewed in London, October 2009; Richard Gott of The Guardian and David Gardner of The Financial Times, also in London, November 2009; William Chislett The Times and Tom Burns of Reuters interviewed in Madrid, May 2011. obstacle to reform given the hostility of the Armed Forces (April 1977); d) the first free elections (June, 1977) and e) the approval of the Constitution which heralds the consolidation of democratic change (December, 1978). Content analysis techniques were applied regarding each of the news articles and editorials published. Transition coverage logistics Before analysing the more qualitative aspects of their news production and their intermediary role in the Spanish transitional process, the professional background of the reporters charged with covering the story, the logistics of their coverage, the sheer volume of their output and their deployment
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